Bloody day in Gaza draws condemnation

A Palestinian child in Abu Hussein School in Gaza, which was struck in an Israeli tank-shell attack on Wednesday.

The Obama administration condemned the deadly shelling of a United Nations school in Gaza on Wednesday, using tough, yet carefully worded language that reflects growing White House irritation with Israel and the mounting civilian casualties stemming from its ground and air war against Hamas.

Tank shells tore through the walls of a U.N. school crowded with war refugees in the deadliest of a series of air and artillery attacks that pushed the Palestinian death toll above 1,360 in more than three weeks of fighting. More than 50 Israelis have died in the clashes.

Palestinians inspect damage to adjacent houses from a fallen minaret of the Al-Sousi mosque that was destroyed in an Israel strike, at the Shati refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, July 30, 2014.

Hours after the strike on the school, Israeli shells hit a crowded shopping area in the Shijaiyah district in Gaza City, killing at least 16 people, including local Palestinian photographer Rami Rayan, who was wearing a press vest at the time, and wounding more than 200 people, Gaza health officials said.

Gaza health ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra said at least 17 people were killed and about 90 wounded in the school strike. Four of the dead were killed just outside the school compound, two in their home nearby and two in the street, after returning from pre-dawn prayers, their relatives said.

Al-Kidra and witnesses said the shopping area was busy because residents, and many who had taken shelter in the area from fighting elsewhere, thought a cease-fire was in place. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the death toll.

The bloodshed came on the heels of an escalation by both sides fighting in the embattled coastal territory, further dimming prospects for a sustainable cease-fire despite international diplomatic efforts.

The attack on the U.N. school in the Jebaliya refugee camp was the second deadly strike on a U.N. compound in a week. Tank shells slammed into the compound before dawn, said Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, which is sheltering more than 200,000 people displaced by the fighting at dozens of U.N. schools across Gaza.

“We are extremely concerned that thousands of internally displaced Palestinians who have been called on by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes are not safe in U.N.-designated shelters in Gaza,” said Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the White House’s National Security Council. She condemned “those responsible for hiding weapons in the United Nations facilities in Gaza” — a nod to Israel’s charge that Hamas is housing arms in those facilities.

Media reports on U.S.

The U.S. frustrations were compounded by a flurry of Israeli media reports this week that appeared aimed at discrediting President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who spent days trying to negotiate an unsuccessful cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. In unusually blunt language, a State Department spokes­woman on Wednesday repeatedly described one of the reports as “complete crap.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also criticized Wednesday’s strike, calling it “outrageous” and “unjustifiable,” and demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

“Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children,” Ban said on his arrival in San Jose, Costa Rica. He added that “all available evidence points to Israeli artillery as the cause” and noted that Israeli military authorities had received the coordinates of the school from the United Nations 17 times, including on Tuesday night.

The Israeli military said it fired back after its soldiers were targeted by mortar rounds launched from the vicinity of the school. It had no immediate comment on the strike on the shopping area, saying it was investigating the report.

The developments injected fresh tension into the often fraught relationship between Obama and the Israeli government, while also highlighting the president’s willingness to take a tougher line against the longtime U.S. ally than some of his predecessors or lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

While Obama and other top officials consistently state their support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas rocket fire, the White House has been making increasingly strong statements about the Palestinian civilians dying in Israeli attacks. Officials also have directly called on Israel to do more to prevent the casualties.

Assad Sabah said he and his five children were huddling under desks in one of the classrooms because of the constant sound of tank fire throughout the night.

“We were scared to death,” he said. “After 4:30 a.m., tanks started firing more. Three explosions shook the school.

“One classroom collapsed over the head of the people who were inside,” he said.

In one classroom, the front wall was blown out, leaving debris and bloodied clothing. Another strike tore a large round hole in the ceiling of a second-floor classroom.

Hundreds of people crowded the school courtyard after the strike, some dazed, others wailing.

“Where will we go?” asked Aishe Abu Darabeh, 56. “Where will we go next? We fled and they [the Israelis] are following us.”

Obama-Israel ties

Obama has had an up-and-down relationship with Israel from the start of his presidency. Israeli officials balked at what they saw as overly harsh criticism of their settlement policy and have been deeply skeptical of Obama’s efforts to negotiate a nuclear agreement with Iran. Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also have struggled to develop a rapport, with the Israeli leader at one point lecturing his U.S. counterpart in the Oval Office in front of reporters, photographers and television cameras.

Yet their relationship appeared to be on the upswing last year when Obama made his first visit to Israel as president. The trip was well-received in Israel and the resumption of U.S.-led peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians quickly followed.

But those talks collapsed earlier this year amid U.S. frustration with both sides of the intractable conflict. The current bout of violence quickly followed, sparked by the deaths of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.

The Israeli military said three of its soldiers were killed when a booby-trapped house collapsed after they identified an entrance to a tunnel inside, raising to 56 the number killed since a ground war began earlier this month. Three civilians also have been killed on the Israeli side.